Dealing with Sinners: some tips

 

Most Sinners are not "bad people":

"In many instances, sinners are not bad people. They have fallen into sin due to misguidance, error, or negligence."

-Imam Zaid Shakir

On seeing a Sinner:

When you see someone committing a sin, don't look down upon the sinner with pride & contempt just because you do a different type of sin (since every human being commits sins).

And don't get puffed up with self-righteousness, just thank Allah for protecting you from that sin and also for covering up your own sins! Remember, arrogance (even against a sinner) is one of the biggest sins in itself and prevents one from entering the JANNAH.

While advising a sinner (nahi 'anil munkar):

Love, real concern, softness, humility, wisdom and choosing appropriate time & place are a part of sunnah of advising & correcting others' mistakes. 

Remember, a Daiee (preacher) with an arrogant (Mutakabbir) heart will never succeed in his dawah.

 

Imam Thanwi (R.A.) said that one should always consider the sinner, whom one is advising, to be better than oneself even at the time of giving advise. If the Daiee thinks that he is better than the sinner, he has Takabbur in his heart and hence, is a bigger sinner himself (arrogance is a bigger sin than most of the common sins)!

 

So, advising & correcting others is a delicate task and, if not done properly, can actually destroy your aakhirah.

May Allah save us.

 

How one looses his Deen by loosing Adab:

How one looses his Deen by loosing Adab:

 When one begins to compromise on the minor Deeni practices (if they could be referred to as minor) then there is no stopping. It’s like slippery ice, and slippery ice no joke!

 

The following has been reported from the Salaf (pious predecessors) among them, Imams Ruwaim (rahimahullah) and Abu ‘Ali Ad-Daqqaq (rahimahullah):

 

من تهاون بالآداب عوقب بحرمان السنة ومن تهاون بالسنة عوقب بحرمان الفرائض، ومن ترك الفرائض عوقب بحرمان المعرفة

 

“Whoever belittles Adab (etiquette)  will be punished by being deprived of the sunnah, and who leaves a sunnah will be deprived of the fardh (obligatory) deeds and he will eventually be deprived of his recognition of Allah (Imaan)”

   -(Kitabut- Tahajjud of Ishbili, pg.132 & Mu’eedun Ni’am of Subki, pg. 85)

(Taken from almiftah blog of Maulana Muhammad)

Loving or Preferring others over Allah: Ibn al-Qayyim

Allah Says in the Quran:

"But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else)". (2:165)

(walladheena aamanu ashaddu hubballillah)

For a true Muslim, the love of Allah should be more deep rooted than anything else. At the time of test, he should sacrifice other loves for the love of God. 

Love of Allah is very easy to claim but very difficult to demonstrate. The real quality of man is known when he is put to test. 

Often the people do whatever they, their leaders or relatives and friends love, ignoring what God loves. But a devoted believer puts the love of God above all other loves.

 God never leaves the person who puts his desire or desires of others above the desire of God unpunished.

He turns the object of his love into a source of sorrow and grief. He breaks the bond of love in such a way that it becomes a bone of contention and a means of pain and suffering for him.

It is a ‘Divine Law’ that if someone loves something more than Allah, He makes such a love, a source of torment for him. Similarly if one fears something more than Allah, he surely is put under its command and that if he makes himself busy in some thing and forgets his Lord, He turns his business into a source of grief to him. Likewise if he prefers anything else to Allah, He does not bless therein and if anyone tries to please anyone against the pleasure of Allah, he definitely invites the wrath and anger of Allah.

-'al Wabil as sayyib' by Imam Ibn AlQayyim R.A.

O Allah! Grant us your true and intense love and make us your beloved servant.